


How to become a Diplomat in the Warring Clan Era

by RinRynRen



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, The Many Gardens of Shikabane-hime, Time Travel, Year -1 & Earlier (Pre-Village/Warring Clans Era), diplomacy is not Shikako's strength, post-split Shikako
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:21:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22110244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinRynRen/pseuds/RinRynRen
Summary: Tobirama is: 1) Curious about the strange chakra signature he keeps sensing but can't locate, and 2) needs to figure out how to solve a problem that involves Uchiha Izuna but does not allow 'kill him' as an option.Shikako is: 1) the strange chakra signature and 2) the answer to his problem.Maybe.
Relationships: Nara Shikako & Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Izuna
Comments: 16
Kudos: 764
Collections: Dreaming of Sunshine Exchange 2019 B, Heliocentrism — a Dreaming of Sunshine recursive collection, Warring clans era time travel





	How to become a Diplomat in the Warring Clan Era

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tavina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tavina/gifts).



For roughly seventeen days now, there had been a strange chakra signature popping in and out of his range. It was on the verge of becoming a dangerous distraction, and Tobirama did not remotely appreciate the way his attention kept being pulled to it. The signature had first appeared in the direction of the Land of Hot Springs, heading straight in the direction of the Senju lands. It was only one signature, and Tobirama had been prepared to step in and intercept as needed, but once it grew closer, it became clear that the signature was not on a direct path to any of the clan compounds scattered around the Land of Fire. 

The signature went to a lone mountain cliff face, one that was nearby the Senju compound but not too close. It was about the same distance to the mountain from the Senju compound and also from the Uchiha compound. The signature had stayed at the mountain for several hours, with no other signatures moving to meet them and no form of contact with anyone or anything that he could sense, and despite himself, Tobirama started to relax, writing it off as not a threat. 

Then the signature vanished into nothing, without warning or reason. There hadn't been any hint of weakness in the signature, no indications of perhaps poison or an illness to explain the sudden disappearance. Tobirama had also witnessed the death of several people from poison and illness both, and none of their chakra signatures have disappeared like that. They all faded, rather than just disappearing in a snap.

It took far too much time for him to manage to extract himself from the compound and go to investigate. Which shouldn’t have been a problem, as he should have found a body, given the way the strange signature had simply disappeared, and there had not been any other signature in that area since. There was still the question of what had happened, but the body should explain things.

There was no body. 

There was no sign of anything whatsoever in that location, in fact, not the slightest sign that there had been anyone in that space. Tobirama was not wrong, however, and there had been someone here. That someone had vanished, not moved, but there was no accompanying flare of chakra, for any kind of technique. He had searched the area for as long as he could get away with before returning to the Senju compound, and that had been it for about a day.

Ever since then, the signature would appear and disappear without warning, all around. Most concerning, perhaps, was the way that the signature would appear inside various compounds of different clans—so far Tobirama had noted it inside the Nara, Uchiha, Yamanaka, and finally, entirely unforgivably, inside the Senju compound itself. It never made contact with anyone, only appearing and then disappearing again without notice. 

Tobirama had begun to suspect that whoever this person was, they were also a sensor of great skill. It could not possibly be a coincidence that every single time he turned to go looking for them that they would again disappear. 

He hadn’t thought—until this moment, though he had begun to consider that it was becoming a problem—that he had been _unforgivably_ distracted by the stranger. But now he was staring across the main square of a small village on a mission, and staring back at him from the other side was Uchiha Izuna—someone who Tobirama had not sensed was there because he had been distracted by the flickering signal that was so tantalizingly close—and Tobirama’s jaw twitched slightly with the force he was using to clench his teeth closed on a curse.

The only consolation that he had in this situation was that the Uchiha looked equally like he was suffering. Of course, the Uchiha was not a sensor, and so his surprise was much more forgivable than the way that Tobirama was taken unaware. The sharigan user’s eyes darted around to the number of random civilians surrounding them, and then back to Tobirama, who could only agree with the silent sentiment neatly conveyed. This was not the place for them to fight. They could, but considering the skill that they both had, it would not be quiet and there would be civilian casualties. 

Tobirama did not want to deal with the fallout that that would cause—already, it was starting to become difficult to get new contracts with the people of the Land of Fire, who were increasingly wary of all of the shinobi clans, no matter how friendly Hashirama tried to be. The civilian population were increasingly pulling back away from the clans, retreating into villages, towns, and cities in an effort to protect themselves. (They were tired of the endless fighting between the clans. After all, _they_ were the ones who were constantly getting caught in the middle of it, and without any way to defend themselves from the chakra powered monsters, and dying there.) He couldn’t afford to cause a scene in a currently neutral village that didn't yet have any negative feelings towards shinobi.

The Uchiha appeared to be thinking along the same lines. 

The Chakra signature flickered in and out of perception nearby. 

Tobirama wanted, for just one moment of weakness, to scream in frustration. The signature was closer to him than it had ever been, and he was certain that he would be able to reach it before it could disappear again. But the Uchiha was there, and he could not afford to keep anything less than his full attention on his enemy, or the Uchiha was certain to end up killing him.

Uchiha narrowed his eyes at Tobirama from across the square, then pointedly started making his way around the civilian filled area over to the entry to the town itself, making to get at least out of the main view. Tobirama waited a moment before mimicking his actions, making his own trail around the square to join his rival (Tobirama was making an effort to think of the Uchiha in less openly hostile terms, even in his own head. Hopefully it would be easier to keep this conversation civil) out of main view.

He slid into the alley that Uchiha was concealed inside, careful and sure that no one had noticed.

“What are you doing here, Senju?” Uchiha hissed, standing at the other end of the alley, carefully out of easy range, and presumably with his Sharingan active. Tobirama kept his eyes carefully away from his rival’s face.

“I was about to ask you that same question,” he responded evenly. “I am here to fill a contract given by the Sawamura family.”

Uchiha went still. “The contract to kill the lover of the head of the family’s wife?”

Tobirama narrowed his eyes and resisted the urge to look fully at the Uchiha’s face to read it better. “How, exactly, did you know that?”

“Because that is what I am here to do as well,” Uchiha said.

There was a long silence where both shinobi just considered the implications of that.

“Why were both of our clans offered the same contract?” Uchiha said slowly. “It—doesn’t make any sense. Everyone knows how our clans are at war.”

“I suspect that the Sawamura family is attempting to use our clan war to conceal something potentially catastrophic for them. If we hadn’t seen each other here in the middle of the town, and only ran into each other when we were both attempting to complete the contract—”

“The fight between us would have been more than enough to destroy whatever they wanted erased, and no one would ever know, because only one of us would survive. The chances of our clans finding out that we were both on the same mission wasn’t high, it would just be assumed that it was bad luck.”

“And lack of control on the behalf of shinobi,” Tobirama agreed. “I will have to look more closely at what the Sawamura stance is on shinobi clans. I thought they were neutral, but now I am…wondering.”

Uchiha snorted. “So, what exactly are we going to be doing about this?” he demanded. “Only one of us is going to be able to get paid, and yet both of our clans have been promised payment. And just so we are clear, I still don’t trust you not to stab me in the back.”

“That was always going to be true, and I must agree with the last as well,” Tobirama murmured, thinking hard. 

The truth was that neither he nor the Uchiha would be able to work together. There was just too much personal history between them, too much hate. What they needed was a neutral third party to mediate between them. It had to be a shinobi to be able to at least try to match them in ability. No one outside of their brothers would be able to match them, even remotely, given how powerful they were. But at least another shinobi would be better than nothing.

Like whoever was attached to an unknown chakra signature, who had made no contact with anyone, who had appeared from nowhere, and was good enough to get in and out of various clan compounds. And most importantly, was right there. Tobirama was almost entirely positive that if he was looking for someone neutral, he wasn't going to get much better. 

“We cannot work directly with each other in order to solve this dilemma,” he said slowly, picking his words carefully. From the corner of his eye, focused on the Uchiha’s lower face, he caught the grimace. “But would you be able to work through a third party?”

The Uchiha scoffed. “Who the hell would be willing to be a third party between the two of us?” he demanded. 

“I do not know,” Tobirama admitted, which got the Uchiha to focus on him even more intently, all but radiating disbelief. 

"You don't know?" Uchiha demanded. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

“And I don’t know if they will agree," Tobirama plowed on, "but I do believe that it may be our only option now, unless you want to fight here and now.”

The Uchiha scowled viciously, but turned slightly away from Tobirama, indicating that he didn’t want to cause a scene here either.

“I’m going to get the third party,” Tobirama said, and then quickly preformed a shunshin to land on top of the temporarily visible chakra signature he had been trying to keep track of for weeks.

He had a brief moment to get a look at the long braid and green yukata before he had to grab the girl before she could bolt. Preventing her from forming handsigns and getting a grip on her arm, Tobirama finally had the chance to actually look over the person he had been trying to catch for over two weeks now. 

Nara features, how unexpected. Blank eyes, carefully composed features, but there was recognition in her eyes, so she certainly knew who he was. He did not know who she was. Not that he knew every Nara, but the Senju were on fairly good terms with the Nara, Akamichi and Yamanaka trio, so this person was even more unexpected. Where did she come from, because she had not been to the Nara compound before these two weeks? And even now, she had gone to the Nara compound, but unless he had missed it, she had not been in contact with anyone from their compound.

Well, hopefully he would be able to get answers from her later. He was very interested in her chakra suppression techniques, and at this range he could sense the multitude of seals that were written on her skin.

But first, he would have to resolve this Uchiha problem.

“I find myself in need of a neutral third party, to mediate between myself and Uchiha Izuna. Are you willing to serve that role, Nara-san?”

* * *

It had been a bad idea from the beginning—Shikako knew that perfectly well. At the same time, she didn’t really see what else she could do. For all that this wasn’t her world, wasn’t supposed to be here world, this was where she was now. This was where she was going to be spending the rest of her life—however short that may be, all things considered.

When she had arrived in this world, she knew, in the back of her mind and deep in her heart, that this was it for her—this was going to be her new home forever, and only if she got very lucky was it going to be the right universe.

Given her luck, it wasn’t. Instead, she appeared to be in the middle of the Warring Clans Era. She hadn’t been expecting that. And finding that out had been fun—she had been in the middle of freaking out about the complete lack of a village, and a lack of the Hokage mountain, when she had noted a massive chakra signature heading straight for her. 

She had been so desperately glad that she had already pulled everything she had inside and hidden it just as well as she had when she convinced her father and Kakashi-sensei that she had vanished, because she was absolutely not prepared to fight with Senju Tobirama at that moment.

She still wasn’t. He was her favorite Hokage, okay, she just couldn’t do it.

After her very near miss with Tobirama, she had done some quick checking around. Things seemed…surprisingly stable for the Warring Clans Era, but maybe she just didn’t know enough of the details. They weren’t exactly taught a lot of details about this period of history. She did find out that both Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Izuna were alive, so she knew she was still a fair bit out from the founding of Konoha, which didn’t happen until some time after Izuna’s death.

(Izuna looked…almost exactly like Sasuke. It hurt, so much, to see him, because she was never going to get her Sasuke back. But here was his clan member, who Shikako knew was going to die. And maybe there wasn’t anything that she could do about that. But then, she wasn’t seven years old anymore. She was a good ninja. She still knew enough of medical jutsu that she might be able to save him. She wasn’t sure exactly what wound it had been that had killed him. It was possible. 

She _wanted_ it to be possible.)

After running a careful recon of the Uchiha clan, Shikako had gone to check on the Nara. She had found Sembei-obaasan there.

Sembei-obaasan was younger than her. By several years. To say the least.

It was only the absolute knowledge that she was surrounded by deeply paranoid strangers who did not know her that prevented a complete and total breakdown at the confirmation that she was never going to see most of her precious people again. Even if she managed to survive, age would do her in long before she could truly meet Naruto and Sasuke. She would be ancient by the time that Kakashi-sensei would be born. 

She managed to get out of the Nara grounds before she completely lost it, thankfully. It took her some time to get out of the slump that she had fallen into, and even now, almost two weeks later, she felt listless. 

It was so hard to see the point, now. She wasn’t going home, this was where she was going to stay, but what did it even matter?

She had stumbled on Uchiha Izuna yesterday, or rather, he had walked right by her. She had been laying on a tree, somewhere between the Uchiha and Senju compounds, listlessly trying to figure out what she was going to do, when he had passed her, moving with purpose. Shikako had watched him go, then followed him with her sensing. After a little bit of thought, she dragged herself up and started to follow him. (She knew that it was a bad idea. She did it anyway.)

She didn’t know what she was going to do long term. But for the moment, she was going to make sure that Uchiha Izuna survived. He looked too much like Sasuke for her to be able to live with herself if he died, when there was any chance that she could stop it.

She trailed him to a village, keeping her chakra as compressed as she could while still keeping enough access to it to be able to use it if she needed to. 

It probably wasn’t going to be enough, though, because that was definitely Senju Tobirama. 

Which was odd, because she was almost positive that Izuna had been supposed to die on the battlefield. Not that she had seen any battlefields in the two weeks she had been here. (It was possible that this wasn’t the exact history of her particular universe, but she shoved that thought to the side. She was going to pretend that she had some idea of what was coming for as long as she could.)

So now she was lurking around the village, trying to blend in with the civilians after hastily pulling on the traditional yukata she had been carrying in hammer-space that should pass in this time, keeping an eye on the respective chakra signatures of Izuna and Tobirama. Who had gone into an alley and were…not fighting? Not fighting was good. She wanted to make sure that Izuna lived, but she wasn’t exactly super enthusiastic about her chances of fighting Senju Tobirama directly over it. (Her favorite Hokage! Also a very powerful genius. She wasn’t going to be winning that.) If she didn’t have to fight Tobirama, she was more than okay with that.

Shikako had no idea what was going on in this world anymore. Nothing seemed like it should.

There was a flicker of chakra, too fast for her to avoid, right behind her, she needed to move—

A hand grabbed her arm, a second one closing around her left hand before she could make any hand seals. Shikako looked up into the face of Senju Tobirama and went still. Red eyes studied her for a moment, hands still tight around her arm and fingers.

“I find myself in need of a neutral third party, to mediate between myself and Uchiha Izuna. Are you willing to serve that role, Nara-san?”

Shikako stared. What. _What. What?_

She knew that this—following Izuna, thinking she was going to be able to get away with it without concerns—had been a bad plan. She did not have a plan for this. 

It was fine. She could do this. She was a Lucky Seven of Konoha. She gave herself equal odds of ending the feud between the Uchiha and the Senju and of causing the end of both clans.

Hey, luck was in the name. What did she really have to lose?

“Yes, I can do that,” was what came out of her mouth.

Everything would be fine. 

Hopefully.

**Author's Note:**

> Because I haven't figured out exactly what would be happening in the mission and all that action that would end up following this, it ends here! I think it's still a decent place to end it.


End file.
